The present invention pertains to a water treatment system, and, in particular, to a system which aerates water to remove objectional gases and iron from water. Potable and non-potable water supplies are thereby improved and/or rendered usable.
Many existing water sources, most notably wells but occasionally community water supply systems as well, provide a supply of water to a household or business which contains impurities. Commonly occurring impurities include iron and gases such as hydrogen sulfide in solution, and these impurities often cause the water to be unpalatable or malodorous to a consumer. Prior attempts to reduce water impurities and thereby improve water potability have used various purification techniques at water flow locations between the water source and the building being supplied with water. One existing technique utilized to remove impurities from water in a more convenient fashion than chemical addition is the natural process of aerating the water with air or ozone. Aeration is intended to cause iron oxide to precipitate from the water as well as cause a release of foul smelling hydrogen sulfide from the water prior to the water reaching the consumer.
A variety of water aeration systems are known, including those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,555,335; 3,151,064; 2,872,415 and 2,560,978. These systems, as well as other existing water aeration systems, are typically deficient in one or more of a variety of respects. For instance, while extended aerated water flow paths allow more time for materials such as iron oxide to precipitate from the aerated water, extended flow paths have frequently been omitted from existing systems or provided in a highly complicated and potentially expensive fashion.
A second deficiency of many existing aeration systems results from their employment of air compressors to provide the air introduced into the water for aeration. While capable of introducing air into the system, air compressors typically output a low volume of air at a relatively high pressure, rather than a higher volume of lower pressure air more suitable for aeration. Consequently, to provide the desired amount of aerating bubbles, compressors frequently require significant amounts of input energy, which makes their operation expensive. In addition, the use of pistons and other associated moving linkages in air compressors increases noise and the likelihood of component breakdown, possible introduction of hydrocarbons into the water being aerated, and potentially expensive maintenance.
Still another deficiency of many existing systems is that frequently the waste material which precipitates from the impure water during aeration settles to the bottom of the aeration tank or vessel without a means to be removed other than filtration. By providing an automatic solenoid blowdown valve in the aeration vessel at the lowest internal point, much of the waste material can be removed to the sewer thus allowing minimal or no filtration.
Thus, it is desirable to provide a system for aerating water which overcomes these disadvantages.